Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. Recognized as the leading United States government agency for protecting the public health and safety of people, the CDC provides credible information to enhance health decisions and promotes health through strong partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease prevention and control (especially infectious diseases), environmental health, health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
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[edit] CDC Health Protection Goals
CDC is committed to achieving true improvements in people’s health. To do so, the agency is defining specific health impact goals to prioritize and focus its work and investments and measure progress.
[edit] Healthy People in Every Stage of Life
All people, and especially those at greater risk of health disparities, will achieve their optimal lifespan with the best possible quality of health in every stage of life.
Start Strong: Increase the number of infants and toddlers that have a strong start for healthy and safe lives. (Infants and Toddlers, ages 0-3 years).
Grow Safe and Strong: Increase the number of children who grow up healthy, safe, and ready to learn. (Children, ages 4-11 years).
Achieve Healthy Independence: Increase the number of adolescents who are prepared to be healthy, safe, independent, and productive members of society. (Adolescents, ages 12-19 years).
Live a Healthy, Productive, and Satisfying Life: Increase the number of adults who are healthy and able to participate fully in life activities and enter their later years with optimum health. (Adults, ages 20-49 years).
Live Better, Longer: Increase the number of older adults who live longer, high-quality, productive, and independent lives. (Older Adults, ages 50 and over).
[edit] Healthy People in Healthy Places
The places where people live, work, learn, and play will protect and promote their health and safety, especially those at greater risk of health disparities.
Healthy Communities: Increase the number of communities that protect, and promote health and safety and prevent illness and injury in all their members.
Healthy Homes: Protect and promote health through safe and healthy home environments.
Healthy Schools: Increase the number of schools that protect and promote the health, safety and development of all students, and protect and promote the health and safety of all staff. (e.g. – healthy food vending, physical activity programs).
Healthy Workplaces: Promote and protect the health and safety of people who work by preventing workplace-related fatalities, illnesses, injuries, and personal health risks.
Healthy Healthcare Settings: Increase the number of healthcare settings that provide safe, effective, and satisfying patient care.
Healthy Institutions: Increase the number of institutions that provide safe, healthy, and equitable environments for their residents, clients or inmates.
Healthy Travel and Recreation: Ensure that environments enhance health and prevent illness and injury during travel and recreation.
[edit] People Prepared for Emerging Health Threats
People in all communities will be protected from infectious, occupational, environmental, and terrorist threats. Preparedness goals will address scenarios that include natural and intentional threats. The first round of these scenarios will encompass influenza, anthrax, plague, emerging infections, toxic chemical exposure, and radiation exposure.
Pre-Event
Increase the use and development of interventions known to prevent human illness from chemical, biological, radiological agents, and naturally occurring health threats.
Decrease the time needed to classify health events as terrorism or naturally occurring in partnership with other agencies.
Decrease the time needed to detect and report chemical, biological, radiological agents in tissue, food or environmental samples that cause threats to the public’s health.
Improve the timeliness and accuracy of communications regarding threats to the public’s health.
Event
Decrease the time to identify causes, risk factors, and appropriate interventions for those affected by threats to the public’s health.
Decrease the time needed to provide countermeasures and health guidance to those affected by threats to the public’s health.
Post-Event
Decrease the time needed to restore health services and environmental safety to pre-event levels.
Improve the long-term follow-up provided to those affected by threats to the public’s health.
Decrease the time needed to implement recommendations from after-action reports following threats to the public’s health.
[edit] Healthy People in a Healthy World
People around the world will live safer, healthier and longer lives through health promotion, health protection, and health diplomacy.
Health Promotion: Global health will improve by sharing knowledge, tools and other resources with people and partners around the world.
Health Protection: Americans at home and abroad will be protected from health threats through a transnational prevention, detection and response network.
Health Diplomacy: CDC and the United States Government will be a trusted and effective resource for health development and health protection around the globe.
[edit] CDC Structure
CDC is one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC's major organizational components respond individually in their areas of expertise and pool their resources and expertise on cross-cutting issues and specific health threats. The agency comprises these major organizational components:
Office of the Director manages and directs the activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; provides overall direction to, and coordination of, the scientific/medical programs of CDC; and provides leadership, coordination, and assessment of administrative management activities.
[edit] Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention
National Center for Environmental Health/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH-ATSDR) provides national leadership in preventing and controlling disease and death resulting from the interactions between people and their environment.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) prevents death and disability from non occupational injuries, including those that are unintentional and those that result from violence.
[edit] Coordinating Center for Health Information and Services
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides statistical information that guides actions and policies to improve the health of the American people.
National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI) provides national leadership in the application of information technology in the pursuit of public health.
National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM) provides national leadership in health marketing science and in its application to impact public health.
[edit] Coordinating Center for Health Promotion
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) provides national leadership for preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities and for improving the health and wellness of people with disabilities.
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) prevents premature death and disability from chronic diseases and promotes healthy personal behaviors.
National Office of Public Health Genomics provides national leadership in fostering understanding of human genomic discoveries and how they can be used to improve health and prevent disease.
[edit] Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases
National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) prevents illness, disability, and death caused by infectious diseases in the United States and around the world.
National Immunization Program (NIP) prevents disease, disability, and death from vaccine-preventable diseases in children and adults.
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP) provides national leadership in preventing and controlling human immunodeficiency virus infection, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis.
Coordinating Office for Global Health provides national leadership, coordination, and support for CDC’s global health activities in collaboration with CDC’s global health partners.
Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness & Emergency Response provides strategic direction for the Agency to support terrorism preparedness and emergency response efforts.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ensures safety and health for all people in the workplace through research and prevention.
- CDC performs many of the administrative functions for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a sister agency of CDC, and one of eight federal public health agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Director of CDC also serves as the Administrator of ATSDR.
[edit] CDC Workforce
CDC’s budget for 2006 is $8.5 billion. Today the staff numbers nearly 15,000 (including 6,000 contractors and 840 Commissioned Corps officers) in 170 occupations. Engineers, entomologists, epidemiologists, biologists, physicians, veterinarians, behaviorial scientists, nurses, laboratorians, economists, health communicators, toxicologists, chemists, computer scientists, and statisticians—to name only a few—each are dedicated to the pursuit of public health.
CDC is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, but it has 10 other locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Those locations include Anchorage, Alaska; Cincinnati, Ohio; Fort Collins, Colorado; Hyattsville, Maryland; Morgantown, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Spokane, Washington; and Washington, D.C. In addition, CDC staff are located in state and local health agencies, quarantine/border health offices at ports of entry, and 45 countries around the world, from Angola to Zimbabwe.The work force is diverse and educated. More than a third of CDC’s employees are members of a racial or ethnic minority group, and women account for nearly 60 percent of CDC’s workforce. Nearly 40 percent of employees have a master’s degree; 25 percent have a Ph.D.; and 10 percent have medical degrees. The average age of a CDC worker is 46.
The CDC campus in Atlanta houses facilities for the research of extremely dangerous biological agents. This setting was well represented in the Dustin Hoffman film Outbreak, although the location depicted in the film was supposed to be the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases bio-research facility. The CDC labs also figure prominently in the book "The Demon in the Freezer" by Richard Preston and "Virus Hunter" by C.J. Peters, former head of the Special Pathogens Branch at the CDC.
The CDC also conducts the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the world’s largest, on-going telephone health survey system.<ref>Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. CDC: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved on 2006-08-05.</ref>
[edit] CDC Timeline
1946 The Communicable Disease Center was organized in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 1.
1947 In San Francisco, CDC took over the Public Health Service Plague Laboratory, thus acquiring an Epidemiology Division.
1948 CDC gained worldwide recognition for the quality and quantity of its contributions to the taxonomy of the Enterobacteriaceae.
1949 As a result of the Cold War, CDC tackled biological warfare, “an exotic new threat to health.”
1950 Fifteen CDC staffers conducted the first investigation of an epidemic of polio in Paulding County, Ohio.
1951 The Epidemic Intelligence Service was established to help protect against biological warfare and manmade epidemics.
1952 U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Leonard A. Scheele reported that the Communicable Disease Center was ready to combat possible biological warfare.
1953 CDC reported first case of rabies in a bat.
1954 Alexander D. Langmuir, M.D., M.P.H., set up a leptospirosis laboratory in Jacksonville, Florida.
1955 CDC established the Polio Surveillance Program.
1956 Dr. William Cherry found the first practical use for the fluorescent technique, which was successful in identifying pathogens that might be used in biological warfare.
1957 National guidelines for influenza vaccine were developed.
1958 A CDC team traveled overseas, for the first time, to Southeast Asia to respond to an epidemic of cholera and smallpox.
1959 Dr. Robert Kissling developed the fluorescent antibody test for rabies, first used in a field trial with 100 percent accuracy.
1960 The Tuberculosis Program moved from the Public Health Service to CDC.
1961 CDC took over publication of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
1962 CDC played a key role in one of the greatest triumphs of public health: the eradication of smallpox.
1963 CDC tested the newly developed Jet Gun and vaccine for smallpox.
1964 The first Surgeon General’s report linking smoking to lung cancer was released. It stated that “cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.”
1965 New surveillance systems added to the original National Surveillance Program of 1952 included measles, shigellosis, tetanus, and trichinosis.
1966 CDC announced a national measles eradication campaign at the American Public Health Association meeting.
1967 The Foreign Quarantine Service, one of the oldest and most prestigious units of the Public Health Service, joined CDC.
1968 CDC investigated an unidentified, highly infectious respiratory disease in Pontiac, Michigan, later identified as Legionnaire’s disease.
1969 CDC constructed a “biocontainment lab” to protect scientists while they work with deadly and infectious pathogens.
1970 The Communicable Disease Center became the Center for Disease Control.
1971 The National Center for Health Statistics conducted the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to capture the health status of Americans.
1972 Tuskegee study on long-term effects of untreated syphilis in black men was brought to public attention.
1973 MMWR reported that lead emissions in a residential area constituted a public health threat—contrary to popular assumption at the time.
1974 CDC planned a major campaign to reverse the downward trend in the number of Americans immunized.
1975 The last victim of variola major smallpox, the more severe form of the disease, was reported.
1976 CDC investigated two outbreaks of a previously unknown deadly hemorrhagic fever, later known as Ebola, in Zaire and Sudan.
1977 Global eradication of smallpox was achieved.
1978 Alcorn County, Mississippi, reported cases of the first outbreak of tuberculosis resistance to formerly effective drugs.
1979 First Healthy People report published.
1980 MMWR published the first report on a newly recognized illness associated with tampon use: toxic shock syndrome.
1981 The first diagnosis of the fatal disease later known as AIDS was described in the June 5, 1981, issue of MMWR.
1982 CDC advised of the possible risk of Reye syndrome associated with the use of aspirin by children with chickenpox and flu-like symptoms.
1983 CDC established a Violence Epidemiology Branch to apply public health prevention strategies to child abuse, homicide, and suicide.
1984 CDC studied Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during combat and later fathered babies; no increased risk of birth defects was found.
1985 With other government organizations, CDC sponsored the first International Conference on AIDS, which took place in Atlanta.
1986 The Office on Smoking and Health, which targets the nation’s primary preventable health problem, became part of CDC.
1987 CDC reported that about 7,000 workers die on the job annually; 42 percent of female workers who die on the job are murdered.
1988 CDC established the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
1989 CDC reported the 100,000th AIDS case in the United States.
1990 For the first time, CDC reported the possible transmission of HIV from a dentist to a patient in Florida during an invasive procedure.
1991 A CDC study showed that one in five teen deaths is gun-related, and firearm death rates for male teens exceeded those for all natural causes of death.
1992 The National Academy of Sciences reported on a dangerous new phenomenon: the emergence of new and virulent diseases that are resistant to antibiotics.
1993 CDC reported that 200,000 Americans had died of AIDS since the epidemic began.
1994 CDC published a frank brochure on how condoms reduce the transmission of the AIDS virus.
1995 CDC recommended offering HIV testing to all pregnant women.
1996 CDC, in partnership with the International Society for Travel Medicine, initiated the GeoSentinel surveillance network to improve travel medicine.
1997 CDC participated in the nationally televised White House event of the Presidential Apology for the Tuskegee Study.
1998 For the first time since 1981, AIDS was diagnosed in more African-American and Hispanic men than in gay white men.
1999 CDC’s Laboratory Response Network was established.
2000 CDC identified an outbreak of HIV-related tuberculosis among young transgender people in New York and Boston.
2001 CDC learned of the first anthrax case; the victim was a 63-year-old Florida man. He would be the first in a series of domestic terrorism victims of infection by anthrax sent through the mail.
2002 CDC reported that U.S. newborn HIV infections were down 80 percent since 1981.
2003 SARS was first reported in Asia. CDC provided guidance for surveillance, clinical and laboratory evaluation, and reporting.
2004 CDC provided support for laws restricting access to over-the-counter medications used in methamphetamine production in Georgia.
2005 Rubella was eliminated in the United States.
2006 CDC celebrates its 60th anniversary.
[edit] CDC: Then and Now
On July 1, 1946, the Communicable Disease Center was established. Its founder was a visionary leader in public health, Dr. Joseph Mountin. The new agency, which was established the year after World War II ended, descended from the wartime agency, Malaria Control in War Areas. Established as a small branch of the U.S. Public Health Service, the CDC was located on the sixth floor of the Volunteer Building on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, hundreds of miles from Washington, D.C., and other federal agencies. The organization took root deep in the South, once the heart of the malaria zone.
CDC initially focused on fighting malaria by killing mosquitoes. In fact, malaria was by far CDC’s most absorbing interest; during the first year of operations, 59 percent of its personnel were engaged in this effort. Among its 369 employees, the key jobs at CDC were originally entomology and engineering. In 1946, there were only seven medical officers on duty.
Back then, CDC’s budget was about $1 million. The insecticide DDT, available since 1943, was the primary weapon in the malaria fight, and CDC’s early challenges included obtaining enough trucks, sprayers, and shovels to wage the war on mosquitoes. In CDC’s initial years, more than six and a half million homes were sprayed, and an early organization chart was even drawn—somewhat fancifully—in the shape of a mosquito.
But CDC was soon to spread its wings. CDC founder Dr. Joseph Mountin continued to advocate for public health issues and to push for CDC to extend its responsibilities to many other communicable diseases. In 1947, CDC made a token payment of $10 to Emory University for 15 acres of land on Clifton Road in Atlanta, the home of CDC headquarters today. CDC employees collected the money to make the purchase. The benefactor behind the “gift” was Robert Woodruff, Chairman of the Board of the Coca-Cola Company. Woodruff had a long-time interest in malaria control; it had been a problem in areas where he went hunting. As you can see, malaria was the catalyst for the agency’s creation. The scene was now set for CDC to expand its home, its mission, and its reach.
Today, CDC is the nation's premier health promotion, prevention, and preparedness agency and a global leader in public health. During the past 60 years, its name has changed to reflect its more complex mission. While it’s still known by the initials CDC, the agency’s name today is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the six decades since its founding, CDC has grown dramatically: in staff, budget and mission. The world authority on communicable disease, CDC has broadened its focus to include chronic diseases, disabilities, injury control, workplace hazards, environmental health threats, and terrorism preparedness. Whereas malaria was once considered a threat to the country’s security, new threats have now emerged. CDC tackles emerging diseases and other health risks, including birth defects, West Nile virus, obesity, avian and pandemic flu, E. coli, auto wrecks, and bioterrorism, to name a few.
CDC remains committed to its vision of healthy people in a healthy world. Part of the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC applies research and findings to improve people’s daily lives and responds to health emergencies, and in 60 years, CDC has grown in size and stature, scope and science, and reputation and reach. Memories have been built and milestones achieved. World-class scientists work in world-class facilities. But while much has changed since 1946, the heart of CDC is still its people—dedicated and diligent, persevering and professional, making a difference in lives around the world.
The CDC is one of the few Bio-Safety Level 4 laboratories in the country and is the only repository of smallpox in the country. The only other "official" smallpox stores reside in Russia though it is possible that other countries may have obtained samples during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
[edit] CDC Data and Survey Systems
- CDC Scientifc Data, Surveillance, Health Statistics, and Laboratory Information.<ref>CDC Data and Statistics. CDC - National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.<ref>Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. CDC - National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
[edit] CDC Publications
Comprehensive list of publications and products<ref>CDC - Publications. CDC - National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
State of CDC report<ref>State of CDC Report: Fiscal Year 2005. CDC - National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
CDC Programs in Brief<ref>Programs In Brief: Home Page. CDC - National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<ref>Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - MMWR. CDC - National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
Emerging Infectious Disease Journal<ref>Emerging Infectious Diseases. CDC - National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref>
[edit] CDC Links
- www.cdc.gov
- CDC media relations site
- CDC Health Topics A to Z
- CDC Public Health Image Library
- CDC Global Communications Center
The CDC Foundation operates independently from CDC as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of Georgia. The creation of the Foundation was authorized by section 399F of the Public Health Service Act to support the mission of CDC in partnership with the private sector, including organizations, foundations, businesses, educational groups, and individuals.
[edit] Further Information
CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory --Atlanta, Gerorgia
[edit] Notes and references
<references/>
| Atlanta history 1861 Atlanta in the Civil War | 1864 Atlanta Campaign | 1868 Georgia State Capitol moved | 1881 International Cotton Exposition | 1888 Coca-Cola invented | 1890 Grady Memorial Hospital opens | 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition | 1915 Leo Frank lynching | 1926 Candler Field opens | 1935 Techwood Homes opens | 1946 CDC opens | 1960s American civil rights movement | 1979 MARTA opens | 1980 Hartsfield Airport opens | 1988 Democratic National Convention | 1989 Underground Atlanta reopens | 1994 Super Bowl XXVIII | 1996 Centennial Olympics | 2000 Super Bowl XXXIV
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es:Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de los Estados Unidos fr:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention it:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ja:アメリカ疾病予防管理センター zh:美国疾病控制与预防中心
